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Just linking to random things, having to do with sea cultures, animals etc:

Hawaiian shark tooth weaponry:

Haida (canadian west coast natives) stuff (just as an aside, the haida were known to use their anchors as chain weapons... and yes, that's wooden armor ):

I know we didn't want to get too tribal, but the Maori have paddles that double as weapons, would make sense for a culture that needed to travel light in small boats and would want to have items that had multiple purposes (they don't have to be wood):

The Ainu were known to be strong seamen (their gondola type sticks could easily double as spears):

Aside from the more pacific feel, remember that the vikings and the Greeks were both very adept at sea travel. The hard part about depicting seafaring culture using characters only is that very rarely do you see items on vikings or other western warriors that would say "this guy's one hell of an oarsman" So I think we could use more or less western dress, remove parts of it to show of the tattoos (they would be living in temperate areas as well so warmth is not a big concern) and hint at their affinity for the sea with their tattoos and more pacific weapons, such as paddle clubs, shark-tooth sabers or arrows, anchor weapons etc.

Something like this: would be close to what our folks might wear for armor. Arms and legs free for swimming, and free to show off neat tats inspired by sea animals Anyways that's what I have for now for resources.
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For what I'm working on, I'm not sure if I want to create something of a "sea-elf" or just stick with a normal elf. I see lots of people going nuts with new races so I don't see why I can't poke around and see what I can come up with. What I'm thinking is that her ears would elongate and pull more flush to her head. The flesh of the ears would serve no purpose in focusing sounds though; a lateral line would develop along the length of the ear, so that the ear becomes a new sense organ where she can feel the vibrations in the water, like fish with lateral lines.

Edit: I suppose that I should explain what I'm thinking about the technology:

Basically the whole seaside/island culture these guys live in would preclude full-body outfits or armor (something we agreed to show off the tats ) meaning that they'd regularly have lots of skin showing. This would mean that nasty weapons with shark teeth in them (something that would be totally negated by even leather armor) would be feasible. These weapons would be particularly nasty since they'd be able to cause a lot more bloodloss I guess? So since there's less armor used by the general populace slashing weapons like katanas and other curved blades could be more useful than stabbing/piercing weapons like swords/military picks.

yesterday, God came to me in a dream and told me that if I don't become a comic book artist, he has decreed that I shall instead be a burlesque dancer.
And I said, "But God, nice panties are so expensive!"
And he said, "Welp, I suppose you better shut up and draw."

Sketches

So far I'm just working up some ideas for a healer character that is a sort of human/ plant matter hybrid. I still have to come up with a clearer idea of what it is that he does. For the evil version of the character, I wanted to do something that is contradictory to the idea of what a healer is, or a healer of things that are also evil. I'll update as the sketches develop.

I sent a PM to Chaotic Knight, but have yet to receive a reply. But anyway, what I wanted to ask was if it is possible for me to join your team?

I understand if you guys are a bit apprehensive, but perhaps if you guys want to give me an assignment to prove myself, I'd be happy to oblige.

Thanks

Edit:

Anyway, CK contacted me via PM, but conclusion is that I won't be joining Oh well, good luck guys!

Last edited by Maledict; August 3rd, 2009 at 01:57 AM.

"Never regret thy fall from grace, O' spirit of Icarian flight, for the greatest tragedy of them all to face, is to never feel the burning bright"
Believe my lies, for I tell the truth about them. Or would you rather me lie about telling the truth?
| Sketchbook | Portfolio | dA | Facebook |

Hey Rabbi, thanks for the interest (CK would have sent you a reply, best of luck )

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Hey guys, would you mind if I wrote up a basic background for the culture and area these guys live in? I was thinking that this area would be a huge bay, with a large amount of small islands to the south. It would breed 2 sea faring cultures; in the north along the bay large ships and more traditional weaponry would be used, whereas in the south along the islands, smaller boats would rule. Also the many islands and rivers in the south would mean that the people would be more inclined to swim, which would mean more shell/obsidian/tooth weaponry as opposed to steel, which would rust. the north may have a standing army while the south are more adept at raids and hit and run tactics do to the maze-like nature of the many islands.

The northern culture would use oar pikes, since only larger ships have need of long oars (plus pikes are only really effective in formation) the southern islands would use more like gondola spears and shark tooth weaponry.

Neither culture would be using a whole lot of armor because of the temperature and the fact that too much gear might cause drowning. Does this sound all good? Am I free to go do some lore creation? lol

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Also, should we split up some of the basic work? Like one person is in charge of this thread and/or submission, one person in charge of lore (though we're all responsible for our own character's story) etc?

One last thing: I think we should have some sort of loose schedule so we can make sure to be on track (stolen from hala ). I propose that:

End of this week (saturday, August 8th)
We have completed most of our sketches and concept work. We'll get together on aim and have a crit and idea session on saturday to really get into the nitty gritty and hammer out the vague ideas. Concepts can still change, but we should know what direction we're taking.

End of next week (saturday, August 15th)
We have either one of our character's completely done, or both at around 50%. Do whichever feels better to you. Again we'll have a group crit

End of the week after (saturday, August 22nd)
This is our day to shoot for in terms of absolute completion. We'll have our final crit session. This way we still have a full week left for...

End of the last week (saturday, August 29th)
.... time to try new things! If you had an idea for a new character, or wanted to try a completely new version of your existing character, now's the time. This is also a buffer week in case things go wrong; problems on the home front, trips, moving, anything that might make a speedbump in your progress. We'll have another little meeting to talk about what we want to submit and what we want to discard.
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Thoughts on all that? (I'll have some more concept stuff up later today too, I'd like it if I got some crits or comments. We need to be talking more, guys )

Here's some stuff I'd really like an opinion on. I'm doing some quick dress-ups of a female sea elf, focusing on what looks like it would be fairly easy to swim in, what looks sexy, good and evil. I did 2 sets of 6 (a and b), plus a mashup of both of them that yielded some neat results (called 'c'):

So far, I'm liking 2, 4, 5 and 6 of all the sets, though I think the last set is getting a bit too heavy for water. So, level some crits at me, after I've figured stuff out I'll reduce it to my favorite 2 of each and work them up in a bit more detail, then make my final decision. Yay

While the men and elves of the west were busy consolidating and expanding their respective empires, and as dwarven hordes fought the orcish clans to reclaim their lost lands, a subtle but steady migration eastward was underway. Whether they were escaping from tyranny, slavery and war or they sought adventure, riches and conquest, the men, elves and other mortal races of the old western world that made up this exodus found themselves in the temperate, clear waters of Crace.

East across the Furled Sea lies the mysterious eastern continent. The first western people to discover it landed in Crace on the continent’s southwestern tip nearly a thousand years before the Old Empires‘ attempts at invasion. Crace itself is defined as the northern area of land surrounding the Cracian Bay, and the thousands of large and small islands to the south and southeast of the bay. Its sparkling waters, massive reefs and golden beaches are as beautiful as they are dangerous. Poisonous fish, amphibians and sentient coral collectives are some of the more common causes of death and disappearances. Islands, erupting like shark’s teeth from the shallow seas are home to a staggering variety of plant and animal species, as well as the last of the “bridge cities,” communities of the displaced and nearly extinct native inhabitants.

After arriving in their new home, the western mortal races set about adapting to the much more temperate climate. Settling along the rim of the bay and in its many islands, the western folk fought a slow and costly war against the natives. Using their heavier western dress, many simply drowned in naval encounters. Their ships, despite being more sturdy than those of the natives, were ungainly and slow by comparison. Change came slowly, as the westerners adopted a more appropriate attire; cut-off sleeves, less wool and similar fabric and most importantly, shallow hulled boats with a prow at either end, to be beached and re-launched without having to turn them. They took to using their oars and paddles as weapons, and began using lighter materials that would also not rust when exposed to the salty seas.

With the natives all but defeated, and their society already evolving, two distinct Cracian cultures came to be: The Doannal Confederacy to the north, and what was collectively known as the Southern Tribes. The donnal Confederacy grew out of the clans which settled and traded along the rim of the bay. The Human military leader Aldon Doannal unified the tribes into a loose confederacy after forcing the rest into defeat. Today, the Cracian Council stands as the Confederacy’s ruling body, regulating trade and offering local and national military protection. The confederacy harkens back to the old western cultures of men and elves, indicated by their heavier, western-style leather armor along with the continued use of steel in their weapons. The huge Cracian Bay allows larger, oar-powered boats to be both a feasible means of transportation and a suitable platform for large naval battles. While they cannot navigate some of the smaller archipelagos and island chains, Confederate ships have been known to penetrate deep inland through the larger rivers. Their relatively large standing army has also allowed them the use of the pike, which has been ingeniously integrated into each oar. In this way, every oarsmen can instantly be transformed into a pikeman, equally ready for battle or rowing at a moments notice. The oar pike is also one of the only Confederate weapons that does not use steel, instead being tipped with the exceptionally hard white crystal farmed from the sentient coral collectives.

The southern tribes, in stark contrast, have almost fully adopted the native way of life. The tribes are a body of people who trade, communicate and often war with each other. They have no central body and are unified only by their modes of dress and transportation. On their small gondolas and rafts, using their obsydian-tipped spears, they paddle and prod their way through the archipelagos and rivers. Huge oars are negated by the lack of a large, unified military force as well as the lack of large boats made obsolete by the tight river ways and sea passages. Since almost all warriors in Crace wear minimal armor with much flesh exposed, the Shark-tooth axes, swords and knives of the southern tribes are particularly effective weapons, causing much more blood loss than traditional weapons and being relatively easy to craft. Leather armor sometimes gives way to thin tight cloth and fishnet, but they still have a good mix of protection and aquatic mobility in their armor. They are also much more willing to dress themselves with pearls, seashells, and coral gems.

Getting into the face, think I've hammered out the alternate anatomy (not as extreme as I thought it would be) Can see more clearly the gill slits and lateral line on the ear. So, ideas for hair, tattoos, piercings etc:

Damn dude, you went all out. Well here are my starting sketches. I'll go from here to digital, so tell me what you guys think. I've decided to go for Warlock Assassin

@Jason: I personally like 1C(?), but the ones you chose look good too. I like the idea of shell armor. Of the new batch I like E4. Maybe you should find a tasteful way of hiding the breasts, though. xD
and for the haircuts, my favorites are 1, 4, and 8.